As it stands, all prospective parents have expressed their willingness to make use of their frozen embryos and none are currently available for adoption.

However, the Embryo Protection Authority believes the law should be amended to make embryo adoption easier and has drafted a bill in this regard following discussions with the Social Care Standards Authority and the State Advocate’s Office.

“This bill has been already reviewed by the Legislation Unit of the Ministry for Justice, Equality and Governance and will be presented by SCSA to the Minister for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity to table at the House of Representatives for discussion. To date this bill has not yet been tabled in Parliament for the regulation of Embryo Adoption,” the Authority said.

If the bill is accepted by the government and Parliament, the Adoption Administration Board will scrutinise potential parents who wish to adopt embryos and make recommendations to the Embryo Protection Authority.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has pledged that a law updating Malta’s IVF laws once again will be presented within the first 100 days of the current legislature.

Although the government has been coy on the technicalities of this bill, Abela has strongly hinted that it will allow some form of genetic testing of embryos to allow people with hereditary genetic disorders to utilise IVF without the fear that their children will die soon after birth.

At a PL election rally last March, a man emotionally recounted how his daughter died of gangliosidosis, a genetic disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells in infants.

“Can we deny people like him the chance and the right to become parents?” Abela asked the crowd afterwards.

While genetic testing will certainly facilitate IVF for several people, it will also undoubtedly give rise to thorny ethical debates, most pressingly on the fate of those embryos who are found upon testing to contain genes for conditions like gangliosidosis.

So what does this mean? 

If these embryos are frozen and eventually put up for adoption, it is highly unlikely that anyone will willingly accept them, knowing that they will turn into babies that have an extremely premature lifespan. There is also a fair argument to be made that is is straight-out cruel to knowingly bring someone who suffers from a condition as debilitating as gangliosidosis into the world. 

On the other hand, if the government allows these embryos to be discarded, its argument against the legalisation of abortion will immediately become much weaker – why should the government ban women from accessing abortion under all circumstances when it is discarding certain embryos itself?  

There is also another argument to be made as to whether genetic testing can and should be used by prospective parents to identify other genes which aren’t potentially life-threatening… scenes from Gattaca immediately come to mind. 

Parliament will soon have to debate these kinds of issues and it’s crucial that MPs are as well-informed on the topic as possible to make sure all bases are covered.

Do you think any of these embryos will ever be adopted?